Not Actually LionZoo

Hello!  This is my first post on this blog and I have to say that since I’m currently located in China, I’ve had very little time in the last few months to be what the title of this blog would suggest, which is a canyon rat.  However, I did have a chance over this weekend to check out the Shenzhen Karting Circuit, named XTreme Speedway (http://www.szkarting.com/index.asp – please note the XTreme, which means it is XTreme).  Sadly, I left my camera back in LA so I have no pictures.

Karting of course forms the foundation of most motorsports careers and in fact enjoy karting more than I enjoy tracking my car.  However, the hire karts in the US are dismally slow and really ruin the experience.  Luckily, the liability laws are not nearly as strict in China and so you can often find hire karts that are decently fast; not as quick as competitive karts, but most places will at least have karts with the KT-100 engines if not something more powerful, which is better than what you can get in the US.

I went to the Shenzhen XTreme Speedway on a Saturday and it was the most packed I’ve ever seen a kart circuit.  There were two tour buses parked outside.  The buses were for groups from Hong Kong.  Apparently they had partially rented out the circuit and were holding their own races complete with practice sessions, qualifying, and races.  Now that’s a tour package I can get behind!

The circuit itself is pretty decent, very smooth with good curbs and a nice variety of corners including two sections of tightening esses.  The hire karts are divided into two groups; the lower 80cc and higher 100cc classes.  I ended up buying two arrive and drive sessions for the 100cc class, as did my friend Tim.  For 150 RMB, we were given an untimed practice session for 8 minutes as well as balaclava and a helmet if you needed them.  A further 30 RMB provided a (moist) rental racing suit and gloves.

Our first session was with the Hong Kong people; I guess some of them bought an extra arrive and drive session for more practice.  It was rapidly apparent that the Hong Kong people tended not to be aware of what’s coming up behind them and quite often would turn in on you if you went side by side with them into a corner.  Also, even though the Hong Kong group had two race groups of 80cc and only one of 100cc, so these guys should’ve been the more experienced, they didn’t always drive what I consider to be the best racing line.  The difference in pace between different people and their general lack of checking over their shoulders made for a rather hairy experience at times.

Our second session was run in the dark under floodlights that I wish were more powerful.  I had brought only my smoked visor to China, which meant I had to borrow a rather sketchy public helmet from the karting circuit with a clear visor.  It was unfortunate to see that the majority of public helmets are too big, probably because people borrowing them do not like the feeling of a properly fitting helmet.  The previously mentioned lights were also not powerful enough and so it was difficult to see the edge of the track in some places.  Coupled with a kart that had quite a bit of understeer, likely because of a more rearward seat position, and I was probably not as fast as the first session.

For my 16 minutes of karting, I had to pay 300 RMB and waited close to 2 hours watching other people.  Since the track was out of the way, Tim and I also split a cabfare of 400 RMB between us.  This meant that 16 minutes of karting came out to 500 RMB each, or close to $75.  It’s somewhat expensive, but when you consider the prices that American places charge and their level of karts, you realize it’s well worth it.  Though I was disappointed Shenzhen XTreme Raceway wasn’t as extreme as the Shanghai Circuit, which will rent race spec Tony Karts that’ll beat my RX-8 to 60 mph, it still had karts fast enough to offer a thrill as well as a very fun track.  Still, I wished they had something slightly faster than the KT-100 karts.  If the Shanghai Circuit kart track is a 10, Speedzone is a 1, and Dromo1 is a 4 (K1 being a 3), Shenzhen XTreme Raceway would rate about a 7.  I will be going back in the future.